Timeline: Music in the Reanaissance

1400

Renaissance textures

Imitative counterpoint: several melodic lines imitate each other, but start at different times.
Homorythmic homophony: several similar melodic lines that move simultaneously.
Melody-dominated monophony: a main melodic line that can be identified with a harmonic accompaniment.

1400

Religious vocal music

There were three main forms:
Motet: It already existedin the Middle Ages, in the renaissance this form became more important and included more part
Mass. it was a long comosition with liturgical texts in Latin. It was based on the fixed parts of the religious ceremony.
Chorale: the most common musical form in the Protestant liturgy. It was based on pre-existing melodies sung in vernacularwith a simple texture.

1400

Secular vocal music

The madrigal was the dominant form. It originated in Italy , it described the union of music and text, always written in vernacular.
In England numerous songs for one voice with instrumental accompaniment were written.
In France, the same form for several voices with instrumental accompaniment was very popular.

1400

Secular vocal music in Spain

In Spain, the main characteristics of secular vocal music were lyrics on Spanish and stong rhtms, there were three main forms:
Romance: it was based on popular poetic ballard that told both true and fictional stories.
Villancico: it also had popular origins. Its name comes from the tunes that peasants sang in the villages.
Ensalada: was a combination of different form, languages and polyphonics textures.

1400

Instrumental forms

-Compositions based on vocal music: instrumentalists, who usually accompanied vocal pieces, used these as a base for instrumental works.
-Compositions with an improvisational feel: composers started to write down any brief improvised pieces that were of good musical quality.
Variations:it consisted of the exposition of a short musical theme followed by some variations on it